Tension device for tapes of paper-folding machines



(No Model.)

J. H. STONEMETZ. TENSION DEVIGE FOR. TAPES OF PAPER FOLDING MACHINES.

o. 295,834. Patented Mar. 25, 1884;

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UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE JOHN H. STONEMETZ, OF 15131111, PENNSYLVANIA.

TENSION DEVICE FO'R TAPES OF PAPER-FOLDING MACHINESQ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,834, dated March 25, 1884-.

Application filed June 2, 1883.

To all whom it may concern! Be it known that 1, Joan H. STONEMETZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tension Devices for Tapes of Paper-Folding Machines; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and t letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to the class of paperfolding machines having endless bands or tapes for conveying the paper through the machine. In ordinary machines these conveyer-tapes are conducted over spools or guidepulleys mounted in brackets or supports that are adjusted for thepurpose of stretching 0r tightening the conveyer-tapes by means of slots and set-screws or other devices requiring nianipulation by an attendant. The conveyertapes being made of material easilyafiected by heat and moisture, they will stretch and become loose on their guide-spools, and necessitate an adjustment of the latter to take up the of the tape-spools by the means described and claimed.

slackin the tapes.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the tapes are always maintained in a uniformly taut condition by tension devices that operate in an automatic manner and do not require the intervention of an operator. I attain this automaticadjustment hereinafter tional view of aself-adjusting spool and supporting-bracket combined with a bow or semiellipticalspring. Fig. 6 is asectional view of (No model.)

a self-adj usting spool and a supporting-bracket plate combined with a guide-pin moving in a slot and having a spiral spring.

The letter A designates spools or pulleys of the ordinary form or shape, which are mounted or journaled in hangers or brackets B, fitted in or connected with the frame Oof a paper-folding machine, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1. The brackets are constructed with guidearms or stems b, which are fitted .into apertured rails of the frame of the machine in such a manner that they can have a proper degree of play or movement. 0, arranged on the bracket between the other A stem or arm, M

stems, may be provided with an. encircling spiral spring, D, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with a flat plate-spring, E,as illustrated in connected-with the stem by a screw-shank,

and serves asa stop for preventing the withdrawal of the spring-stem through the hole in the bottom of the socket. t

In the construction shown in Fig. 4 a collar, is made on the stem 0, and the spring E is bifurcated or apertured at one end, so as to receive the stem, and is attached at its -other end to the frame-rail.

In the form shown in Fig. 5 the screw-head d serves to secure the central or bow portion of the semi-elliptical spring F to the stem 0, the free ends of such a spring alone bearing upon the frame-rail.

It will readily be manifest that the tapes or bands H, passing around or over these spools or sheaves,will always be maintained in a state of tension by the action of the spring upon the brackets of such spools, it being understood that a pair of sheaves may be arranged ICO in line upon opposite sides of the frame and receive a single tape and hold the same in a taut condition, or the various tapes are passed around the folding-rollers and the tensionspools. WVhen the tapes are first applied, the spools are the farthest from the frame of the machine, and as the tapes stretch or become loose from any cause whatever the spools will automatically approach or move toward the framerails, and thus hold the tapes taut.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a spriugpressed bracket or frame carrying a tape-spool and provided with guide-stems, with a paper-folding-machine frame adapted to receive and hold JOHN H. STONEMETZ. Witnesses:

CLARENCE CHAPMAN, J. L. SMITH. 

